'Next frontier' in heart disease: Undoing it (drano for colesterol plaque)

[papau]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-08-heart-disease-cover_x.htm



'Next frontier' in heart disease: Undoing it By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
Mon Jan 9, 7:23 AM ET



<snip>So Malloy, 48, a former Philadelphia police officer and father of two, got himself tested. The test found two partly blocked arteries. He volunteered for a trial of a drug, code-named D-4F, at the University of Pennsylvania hospital here. It is one of more than half a dozen pioneering methods being tested to see whether they can clear out arteries.


If the research succeeds, any one of the treatments could turn back the clock on decades of cholesterol buildup, without bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty. (Related: Nine factors that affect your heart's health)


"It's the next frontier," says Prediman Shah of Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, who helped to develop one of the promising new drugs. It is a synthetic version of a protein called apoA-1 Milano, to be sold by Pfizer. Because it is the first drug known to reduce the amount of artery-clogging plaque, it has been likened to Drano drain cleaner. <snip>

Shah infused synthetic apoA-1 Milano into rats and rabbits that were fed fatty food. Plaques in their arteries shrank. During a celebratory dinner in Milan, several researchers decided to form a company called Espirion to develop apoA-1 Milano for use in patients. Roger Newton, the company's new CEO and a developer of Lipitor, recruited the Cleveland Clinic's Nissen to test it.<snip>

[babylonsister]

1. I wonder if this will ever be introduced; look at all the money

cardiologists will lose from not having to do these procedures.
I am very jaded when it comes to doctors and whose best interests
they serve.

[kahleefornia]

2. eat all the crap you want

just take a pill after. Come on, why can't people just eat reasonably healthy food and get some exercise?? This pill is going to have some terrible side effect, like dissolving your liver in the process of Drano-ing your arteries.

[papau]

3. Statins like Lipitor do a number on my liver already! This has to be

an improvement for folks like me!

:toast:

:-)

[philb]

10. there are some alternatives to statins that studies show are as effective

yet don't have adverse effects(controlled studies)
such as polycosanol, red yeast rice, etc.
there are many things documented in the medical literature to be offer improvement, though not to the degree of
the others mentioned here-
tumeric is documented to be very helpful for many cardiovascular conditions, also hawthorne and ginger,vit E, etc.

I know people who have gradually phased out of taking statins for cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.
by substituting things like those I mention here for part of the dose, continuing to do doctor tests for
liver, cholesterol,etc. while they phase over to the other options- and ended up with control but no Rx.

Glycentials are another option that I know some who have had similar success with.


I've interacted with many thousands of people with chronic conditions of all types over the last 10 years through a patients
support organization I interact with and provide research information to. I also regularly read at least 5 medical newsletters and
several journals on a regular basis in addition to research and patient interactions.

ps: people who take statins or red yeast rice should be aware that these reduce the body level of CoQ10 which the cardiovascular
system needs a lot of, so taking CoQ10 supplements along with such cholestorol inhibators is advised by some doctors. this problem
can be indicated by leg cramps, etc. Of course deficiency of the minerals potassium or magnesium can also cause such, and
essential mineral balance is also important and can be altered by medications or toxic exposures. Deficiencies of magnesium are extremely common.

[Saturday]

4. There is a company called...

Possis Medical that has a Roto Rooter type device to do the same thing.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. Some say this is being done already with EDTA

However on EDTA (ethylene diamene tetra-acetic acid) the patent has expired and no drug company stands to make billions off of it, so it's not profitable for the pharma/medical industry to publicize it (or so the story goes). EDTA is also used as the approved treatment for lead poisoning. It chelates (ie. binds) with the lead and then it and the lead get flushed out together through the kidneys.

The guy who told me about EDTA had circulation problems in his legs. He said he could only walk a block or so before he would have to stop due to the pain it caused in his legs. He also got a cut in his foot which turned gangrenous because of the poor circulation and he was told that it would have to be amputated and there was no other choice. Someone told him about EDTA chelation and he went and had some EDTA treatments. The circulation to his foot was restored and, according to him, with the improved circulation the gangrene cleared up on its own and he was able to resume work again which involved a lot of walking and physical exertion (he worked as a fence builder) and which he had to quit when he developed the leg pains.

The EDTA is administered in a Doctor's office by an IV drip over a period of about 3 to 4 hours. It has to be supervised by a licensed medical doctor (in the US or Canada at any rate). There are oral EDTA pills you can find on the internet now, however my understanding is that they are not as effective as the IV drip treatment.

The medical doctors who do perform this procedure have been treated as selling a quack cure, and the Ontario Medical Association did ban it (allowing Ontario doctor's to use EDTA to treat heart disease) for a while in Ontario. However, they could not prove that the EDTA when administered under the dosages that were being used was harmful to patients and there was such a hue and cry from the public who were benefiting from the treatments and who went over the border to US doctors to continue to have access to the EDTA treatments that they backed off. For the last few years some doctors in Ontario have resumed providing EDTA treatments for patients with heart disease and the circulation problems associated with blocked arteries.

The National Institute of Health has started an official double blind type study on EDTA chelation therapy as a treatment for heart disease, but the results won't be out for another couple of years yet. Details at:
http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2002/chelation/q-and-a.htm

[papau]

6. Interesting -but will it do more than a marginal benefit?

In any case, it certainly is in the race for the billions the boomers will spend to stay alive.

[JohnyCanuck]

7. Seems more than marginal to me

As in the case I related in my post above, I'd say saving a foot from amputation and being able to resume a productive life in the workforce would be considered more than a marginal benefit (assuming of course the guy wasn't just BSing me, but I have no reason to believe he was). However, it is true the EDTA treatment is not a one shot deal where you get x number of doses of EDTA and you are cured of heart disease for ever. After the initial series of treatments is over the EDTA patients do need to go on a maintenance program and get treatments periodically every couple of months or so to maintain the health benefits of the initial treatment. The cost of each treatment as of a couple of years ago is in the ball park of around $100 and that is mostly the cost of the EDTA plus the cost of the medical staff to supervise the procedure, and in Ontario using EDTA to treat heart disease is not covered by the public Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

Keep in mind that it's not that unusual for arteries in patients who have had heart bypass surgery or angioplasty to block up again. My understanding is that in many cases if an artery becomes blocked again after a bypass procedure you can't do another bypass procedure on it. Having to pay a $100 bucks or so every month or two to keep the blood flowing to your heart would likely be seen as more than a marginal benefit to someone who was otherwise going to face a significantly shortened lifespan along with severe limitations on mobility caused by angina pain on exertion and a likely death by heart attack.

[papau]

8. Point well taken - a topic to discuss with the cardio doc! :-)

:-)

[philb]

9. EDTA has been used for 50 years to unblock clogged arteries,etc.

it seems to be effective

the main precaution I'm aware of is that if one has a lot of mercury body burden, its likely better to reduce the
mercury body burden prior to using EDTA. I'm aware of some with high mercury levels who used EDTA to unblock arteries successfully,
but had more short term memory problems afterward. Some animal studies show a possible problem related to toxic mercury/EDTA compounds formed during the chelation. But mercury is very toxic and can do this with or without EDTA.